An intake apparatus for supplying air to an internal combustion engine mainly comprises an air cleaner, a throttle body, and an intake manifold. A conventional intake apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 2003-184671 (Page 2-4, FIG. 1). The conventional intake apparatus is shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. A resonator 76 and an air cleaner 74 having an inlet duct 72 are disposed above an engine (a cylinder block) 70. The air cleaner 74 and the resonator 76 are connected through a connecting member 78 such as a pipe, a flexible tube, etc. A throttle body 82 having a throttle valve 80 is disposed at the side of the air cleaner 74. The air cleaner 74 and the throttle body 82 are connected through a connecting member 84 such as a pipe, a flexible tube, etc. An intake manifold module 90 consisting of an intake manifold 86 and an upper body 88 which is the upper portion thereof is disposed at the side of the throttle body 82. The throttle body 82 and the upper body 88 are connected through a connecting member 92 such as a pipe, a flexible tube, etc. The intake manifold 86 is connected directly to the engine 70.
The air which is supplied to the engine 70 is introduced to an air cleaner room 75 in the air cleaner 74 through the inlet duct 72. Then, the air is introduced to the throttle body 82 through the air cleaner room 75 after eliminating dust etc. by a filter (not shown in drawings) which is disposed in the air cleaner room 75. Then, the air is introduced to the engine 70 in the order of the throttle body 82, the upper body of the intake manifold module 90 and the intake manifold 86.
Many parts are installed in the limited volumetric capacity of an engine room of an automobile. Therefore, reduction in parts count, the volume of each part, and the assembling time are continuously desired for apparatuses and parts which are installed in an engine room. From this viewpoint, with the structure having an air cleaner 74 above the engine 70 as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, a technology to integrate a cylinder head cover of an engine (a cylinder block) and an air cleaner body is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 2002-206465 (Page 2-3, FIG. 1). By integrating the cylinder head cover of the engine and the air cleaner body, reduction in parts count and assembling time, and space saving of the engine room can be achieved.
As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the upper body 88 which positions above the circular-shaped intake manifold 86 is disposed at a position being apart in the horizontal direction from the air cleaner 74 which positions vertically above the engine 70. The throttle body 82 is disposed between the air cleaner 74 and the upper body 88 which are apart in the horizontal direction. In the space V between the air cleaner 74 and the upper body 88, namely the space at which the throttle body 82 is disposed, considerable room is not utilized except for the room for disposing the throttle body 82.
In the prior art, the connecting member 84 is adopted for connecting the air cleaner 74 and the throttle body 82, and the connecting member 92 is adopted for connecting the throttle body 82 and the intake manifold module 90. These connecting members 84, 92 are disposed in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the width of the space V in FIG. 8 increases, and there exists useless room which is not used effectively in the space V.
Intake noise is generated in the air cleaner 74. From the viewpoint of quietness of the vehicle, the air cleaner room 75 has to be larger than a specific volume to lower the intake noise at the air cleaner 74. In order to ensure the specific volume of the air cleaner 75, enlarging the side face of the air cleaner 74 is considered. However, around the side face of the air cleaner 74, specific parts such as the intake manifold module 90 are to be disposed at the same height. Therefore, to ensure the specific volume of the air cleaner room 75, the height of the air cleaner 74 which is attached to the engine 70 has to be necessarily high. Consequently, the adequate margin of the clearance between the air cleaner 74 and the engine hood (not shown in figures) cannot be obtained. Then, in the case of collision, the possibility that the reliability of the air cleaner 74 and the intake manifold module 90 may not be ensured cannot be denied due to the possibility of the impact caused of the air cleaner 74 and impact damage of the intake manifold module 90 etc. Further, since the margin between the air cleaner 74 and the engine hood is not adequate, there is a drawback that the impact to a pedestrian becomes large if the vehicle hits a pedestrian. In addition, when the same intake apparatus is installed to a mini car, the clearance margin between the air cleaner and the engine hood becomes extremely insufficient.
The present invention was devised in view of the abovementioned problems. The object of the present invention is to provide an intake apparatus which ensures the collision safety by having sufficient clearance margin to the engine hood by utilizing the space around the intake manifold which is not conventionally utilized, while achieving cost reduction by eliminating superfluous connecting members which reduces parts count and assembling time.